Unity Community

Unity’s World Day of Prayer

September is a big month for those of us at Unity Community Church.  For one thing, September 11th is our anniversary—this year is our 4th!  We feel good that we get to celebrate and affirm UNITY on a day that also commemorates the sadness of lives, families and peace torn apart.  

Another reason we feel good about September is that it is the month when Unity’s annual World Day of Prayer occurs. This year, it happens on September 10th, and this year’s theme, “Reach In, Reach Out, We Can Change the World”, reflects the importance of going within for guidance and then reaching out to help others. Together we can create heaven on earth.

Unity World Day of Prayer is an annual celebration to affirm peace, abundance and love on an individual and global level. There are many ways you can be involved, either by connecting via the website, or by saying a prayer on your own. In any case, your prayers join those all around the world, creating a critical mass of positive energy that truly has the power to change the world.

Visit www.worlddayofprayer.org and feel free to join us at Unity Community Church in the San Fernando Valley to help us celebrate our fourth year of living our vision of being a loving and welcoming center that is an inspiring spiritual magnet for all to experience oneness with God.

~by Malayna Dawn

World Prayers for Peace & Unity

Unity Community Church began on September 11, 2005, four years after the date was made significant by the attacks on American centers of power. 

Among the many transformative lessons we can take with us from that date are the need to WORLD PEACE a priority.  So this year, on UCC's 3rd anniversary, the service consisted of prayers for peace from other cultures and belief systems. (See all below or click the category to the right.)

This energy was bolstered by Unity's World Day of Prayer on September 11, 2008 with the theme of Celebrating Oneness, Healing the World.  Their affirmation for all to support was:

Rejoicing in our oneness with God and one another, we celebrate healing in every aspect of our lives and in the world.

This was the beginning of 11 Days of Global Unity: A Season of Interfaith Celebration, which stretches from the World Day of Prayer on Sept 11 through September 21, which is the United Nations International Day of Peace. This is the pledge that you can sign by going to We the World.org:

We, the people of planet Earth, in recognition of the interconnectedness of all life and the importance of the balance of nature,

Hereby acknowledge our interdependence and affirm our dedication to

~Life-serving environmental stewardship,

~The fulfillment of universal human needs worldwide,

~Economic and social well-being,

~And a culture of peace and nonviolence,

To insure a sustainable and harmonious world for present and future generations.

Join Nobel Peace Laureate Archibishop Desmond Tutu and Dr. Jane Goodall, and all of us at Unity Community Church in praying for and affirming WORLD PEACE!

From Malayna, UCC's Webmaster www.malaynadawn.com

World Prayers for Peace - Native American

The great varieties of Native American cultures share four cardinal principles: 1) respect for The Divine…The Great Mystery, 2) respect for Mother Earth, 3) respect for their fellow man and woman, and 4) for individual freedom.  We know and hold the Truth expressed in this Native American Prayer for Peace…

O Great Spirit of our Ancestors,

I raise my pipe to you

To your messengers the four winds,

and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.

Give us the wisdom to teach our children

to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other

so that they may grow with peace in mind.

Let us learn to share all good things

that you provide for us on this Earth.

 

- Sioux Chief Yellow Hawk

World Prayers for Peace - Buddhism

Buddhism is dedicated to practices of Virtue, Concentration and Discernment.  We know and hold the Truth expressed in this Buddhist Prayer for Peace…

May all beings everywhere plagued

with sufferings of body and mind

quickly be freed from their illnesses.

May those frightened cease to be afraid,

and may those bound be free.

 

May the powerless find power,

and may people think of befriending

one another.

 

May those who find themselves in trackless,

fearful wilderness--

the children, the aged, the unprotected--

be guarded by beneficent celestials,

and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

World Prayers for Peace - Bahá’i

Bahá’ism emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind.  We know and hold the Truth expressed in this Bahá’i Prayer for Peace.

Be generous in prosperity,

and thankful in adversity.

Be fair in thy judgement,

and guarded in thy speech.

Be a lamp unto those who walk

in darkness, and a home

to the stranger.

Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light

unto the feet of the erring.

Be a breath of life to the body of

humankind, a dew to the soil of

the human heart,

and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

World Prayers for Peace - Sikh

Sikhism simple message is about Work, Worship, and Sharing based on a conviction that all people stand equal in Society.  We know and hold the Truth expressed in this Sikh Prayer for Peace…

 

 

God adjudges us according

to our deeds,

not the coat that we wear:

that truth is above everything,

but higher still is truthful living.

Know that we attaineth God when we loveth,

and only that victory

endures in consequences of which no

one is defeated.

World Prayers for Peace - Christian

Christianity is based on the qualities taught and demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth – Love, Kindness and Tolerance.  We know and hold the Truth expressed in this Christian Prayer for Peace

 

 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love
Where there is injury . . . pardon
Where there is doubt . . . faith
Where there is despair . . .hope
Where there is darkness . . . light
where there is sadness . . .joy

 

O Divine Master,
grant that i may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life

-Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

World Prayers for Peace - African

The great varieties of native African oral traditions have no consciousness of hell or purgatory, no written scripture or prophets.  They share a share a common belief in a Supreme Being and a devout connection with ancestry.  We know and hold the Truth expressed in this native African Prayer for Peace…

Almighty God, the Great

Thumb we cannot evade to

tie any knot;

the Roaring Thunder that splits

mighty trees:

the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees

even the footprints of an antelope on a

rock mass here on Earth.

You are the one who does

not hesitate to respond to our call.

You are the cornerstone of peace.

World Prayers for Peace - Hinduism

Hinduism grew over a period of 4,000 years evolving and merging with the various religious and cultural movements of India.  This diverse body of religion, philosophy, and cultural practice is characterized by a belief in a Supreme Being of many forms and natures, by the view that opposing theories are aspects of the one Eternal Truth, and by a desire for Spiritual Freedom.   We know and hold the Truth expressed in this Hindu Prayer for Peace…

Oh God, lead us from the

unreal to the Real.

Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.

Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

Oh Lord God almighty, may there be peace in

celestial regions.

May there be peace on earth.

May the waters be appeasing.

May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and

plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent

beings bring peace to us.

May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all

through the world.

May all things be a source of peace to us.

And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all,

and may that peace come to me also.

World Prayers for Peace - Judaism

Judaism traces it roots to Abraham who lived between 1800 and 1500 B.C.  Jewish tradition says that Moses received from God, the first five books of the Bible which are called the TORAH or Mosaic Law.  We know and hold the Truth expressed in this Jewish Prayer for Peace

 

 

Come let us go up the mountain of

the Lord, that we may walk the

paths of the Most High.

And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares,

and our spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation--

neither shall they learn war any more.

And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the

Lord of Hosts has spoken.